My brother got me into Alice In Chains. In a few weeks, I’m hitting the 20th anniversary of losing my brother. This time of year, I tend to listen to them a lot. And learn a little more about Layne Staley.

Layne was involved in a fairly lengthy relationship with a girl named Demri Parrot. It’s argued she influenced his music heavily, and possibly his drug addiction. There are a lot of pictures of them together, easily found online.

Pretty interesting history if you are a fan of the band.

https://www.findagrave.com/mem...0/demri-lara-parrott

Almost nothing earth-shattering can be said about what little we know of Demri Parrott (born 2/22/68), except that she was practically worshipped by her fiancé, Layne Staley. Rare pictures show her to be dark-featured and pretty, with long black hair and dark eyes.
It is believed that Layne met Demri sometime in the 80's or early 1990, as she is thanked in the liner notes of Facelift, which was released 8/90. She is not, as is widely believed, the woman on it's cover. Most of her friends described her as kind, peaceful and artistic. They fail to mention, however, her dependency on heroin and whether or not she became hooked on the drug before or after she met Layne.
Layne Staley and Demri Parrott were, according to close friends and bandmates, described as perfect for each other and the term "soulmates" has been used more than once to define their relationship. However, in the years that followed Dirt's success, Layne and Demri drifted apart. Though the two were engaged between the years of 1992-1994, the engagement broke apart sometime in '93 or '94.
Most of Layne's work on his albums after those years ("Tripod"-AIC and "Above"-Madseason) seem more miserable and self-pitying than ones preceding them. In one particular song on "Above", "Lifeless Dead", he describes of a relationship in which the man wants marriage and commitment, and the woman shies away. No one is really sure if he sung about his own problems with Demri or not. If it was an attempt to bring her back to him, it failed miserably.
Sadly, on October 29th, 1996, Demri passed away due to an inflammation of the heart caused by a heroin overdose. She did not overdose, as is the popular belief, rather, her heart simply grew too big for her body. Many believe this was the final nail in the coffin for the already suffering Layne, who was fighting his own losing battle with an addiction. Friends comment that after Demri died, Layne was put on suicide watch for 24 hours. There is no memorial to this woman, no lasting legacy that rival's fellow rock-star girlfriend Courtney Love's, no one even knows who she is. She was a woman veiled in mystery and poetic silence, and yet she succeeded in breaking the spirit of one of the most talented singers of the 20th century.

I was a fan of AIC, having seen them opening the Clash of the Titans tour (Anthrax, Megadeth, & Slayer) at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin in 1991. Chains was an amazing group that wowed the audience!

A few years ago, I followed the Google bunny trail about Chains, and read a lot about Demri then. What a sad ending for them both; and I wondered the same thing, who if anyone, was a worse influence on the other in that terrible cycle of addiction.

I'm sorry that you lost your brother; I have one full-blooded brother who is such a knit-in part of my soul, and who I am, that I can't imagine ever losing him.

I’ve been a big AIC fan for a long time...I never knew of her, very sad.

I still remember the first time I heard Facelift. I believe it was in 1/91, visiting my brother at college. I remember being blown away, I've been a fan since.

There new stuff is good, but it doesn't have the significance(to me) of some of their older stuff. The Layne era makes my hair stand on end.

My bro also got me into Soundgarden. I've been listening to AIC's "Right Turn" off of Sap. It has vocals from Layne, Jerry Cantrell, and Chris Cornell. Good stuff, almost mesmerizing.

One of my "grail bands" that if i had a time machine I could use I would go see in their prime.

I remember, I was driving to play golf with my brother (who was a bigger AIC fan than me, and kind of got me more into them) when we heard Layne passed...

Very sad for such a talented singer.